Monday, September 30, 2013

On Friday, the Reverend Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General
Assembly, joined with 33 other leaders of faith denominations and organizations
to urge Congress duly to enact a budget that will keep our government running
into the new fiscal year. They wrote:

"Our democracy rests on principles of reason, compromise, and
a commitment to the common good. To hold our governance processes and financial
credibility hostage to narrow priorities is not only dangerous to the nation’s
near-term financial well-being, it threatens the very foundations of our
democratic process and our capacity to live united in community."

Parsons continued in a
separate comment:

"It is time to stop playing politics with people's
wellbeing.It is the genius of our
democracy that no one political ideology should determine the agenda of a
nation, nor should those relying on government programs or the full faith and
credit of the U.S. Treasury be held hostage.It is time for everyone, citizens and elected officials, to engage in
good faith in the difficult and challenging work of government."

The complete text of the letter from Religious
Leaders follows:

September 27, 2013

Dear Senator/Representative:

As leaders of faith communities and organizations comprising
millions of people from all walks of life across our nation, we are deeply
concerned by the completely avoidable budget and financial crises we are fast
approaching as a nation.

Though Congress must pass the federal budget,
it belongs to every American.This common
fund formed of our combined tax revenues is designed to support the shared
infrastructure, well-being, and long-term ethical values of our society.As people of faith we find it morally
irresponsible to blockade the process by which we provide for our nation’s
shared needs in a bid to force any
individual legislative priority.

It would likewise be reckless to propel the United States into
financial default by refusing to raise the debt ceiling for spending that
Congress has already approved. Shuttering
the federal government or defaulting on the nation’s financial commitments is
likely to reverse our fragile economic recovery, punish the middle class, and
deeply harm our most vulnerable neighbors.

Our democracy rests on principles of reason, compromise, and a
commitment to the common good.To hold
our governance processes and financial credibility hostage to narrow priorities
is not only dangerous to the nation’s near-term financial well-being, it
threatens the very foundations of our democratic process and our capacity to
live united in community.

We ask that lawmakers address their concerns through the proper
legislative channels. It ill serves our nation and people to stand in the way
of funding federal operations or raising the debt ceiling in an effort to block
implementation of health care legislation that Congress duly enacted.We ask that congressional leadership of both
parties stand strong in opposing efforts to allow the will of the few to
threaten the common good.

We commit to keeping you in prayer, asking that God continue to
give you wisdom as you faithfully serve our nation during this time when the
country most needs your principled leadership.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

When being sworn into
office, members of Congress must affirm that they “will well and faithfully
discharge the duties of the office.” But in recent days, many Members of
Congress have lost sight of this promise. Instead of dedicating themselves to promoting
the common good and serving the needs of communities they are elected to
represent, they are choosing to defund programs that serve the most vulnerable
people in the country, to create unnecessary fiscal crises, and to engage in ideologically-driven,
gridlock-producing debates.In other
words, they are displaying a willful refusal to engage in the business of
government.

Last Thursday, Sept. 19,
the House of Representatives approved a bill that will cut $40 billion from the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp
Program) in a narrow vote of 217 to 210.For several OPW blog posts about and in
opposition to this bill, click here.If this bill were enacted as passed, it would
cut 4 million people from the program, reduce benefits for others, and cut
210,000 children from the free school meals program, among other things. In
2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, SNAP
lifted 4 million people out of poverty and made tens of millions of people
less poor than they otherwise would have been.SNAP is one of our nation’s most effective and efficient anti-hunger
tools and these cuts can only be characterized as draconian.

The next day, the House
passed a “Continuing Resolution,” a short-term funding bill, in lieu of
full-year appropriations. The bill not only continues post-sequester spending
levels (i.e. indiscriminate, multi-year, across-the-board spending cuts), but
also defunds the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare). The ACA has been the law of the land since
2010 and was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012. The House of Representatives
has already taken over 40 votes either to repeal or defund the ACA to no
avail. This further effort to defund Obamacare is an attempt to force a political end when it cannot be accomplished through regular legislative procedure.It is also a political non-starter, given the
current divided Congress, and fails to offer a meaningful way forward, either
on health care or the coming budget crisis. A political showdown is
ensuing, as the specter of a government shutdown looms at the start of October.

This sort of
grandstanding is irresponsible, endangering those who rely on the government,
from those who receive WIC nutrition assistance or Head Start, to those who enjoy the beauty of national parks, to
federal employees, who, as a group, outnumber any other single employer’s labor
force.Other impacts of a government
shutdown could include:

Delays or cuts in unemployment insurance and
veterans’ benefits;

Suspended cleanup at toxic waste sites;

Cessation of new FHA home loan guarantees;

Delayed processing of visas, passports, and other
government applications; among others.

Instead of these
politically motivated squabbles, Members of Congress should be focusing on the
true issue at hand – keeping government programs funded so that they can
continue to serve the common good.Congress must pass a spending bill, and soon.Even as they are already looking past Sept.
30 to the next big, manufactured political crisis, the raising of the debt
ceiling.

With the clock rapidly
ticking toward the September 30 deadline, we need bold leadership and effective
governance. Our elected officials have been placed into office to serve the
needs of the people they represent and to govern with integrity. It is
unjust to use funding for vital programs critical to people’s lives as leverage
for forcing policy. The time has come for our leaders to put aside
distracting partisan debates and negotiate an agreement on the federal budget.

For the last several
years, the PC(USA) has joined with a broad spectrum of interfaith partners in
calling for a Faithful Budget which
reflects a commitment to robust funding for programs that serve the common good
and adequate revenue to meet these commitments. It is grounded in our faith
call to love our neighbors and to care for all of God’s people and creation. We
remember Peter’s charge to leaders that they:

“Be
shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not
because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not
pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those
entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:2-3, NIV)

* Many thanks to partners at the United Church of Christ for
collaborating with us on this piece.

** Correction printed on Sept. 26, 2013: Social Security benefits have been determined "essential services" by the Department of the Treasury and will not be disrupted by a government shutdown.

About Me

The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness is the public policy information and advocacy office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Its task is to advocate, and help the church to advocate, the social witness perspectives and policies of the Presbyterian General Assembly. The church has a long history of applying these biblically and theologically-based insights to issues that affect the public — maintaining a public policy ministry in the nation's capital since 1946.
Reformed theology teaches that because a sovereign God is at work in all the world, the church and Christian citizens should be concerned about public policy. In addition, Presbyterian forefather John Calvin wrote, "Civil magistry is a calling not only holy and legitimate, but by far the most sacred and honorable in human life."